Spooked
by April Snakehole
Summary: In the Heads' Office after classes, Lily and James distract each other from getting their work done. Some pre-relationship flirty fluff.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Same as always; nothing you recognize is mine.  
>AN: I can't stop writing Jily fluff. Send help.

Spooked

They were sitting in the Heads' Office, Lily looking over the patrol schedule and James finishing off some Charms homework. It was three weeks into term and they had just began to figure out a routine that worked for the both of them: Wednesday night, after Defense Against the Dark Arts, they sat in the Heads Office and traded off, one doing patrol schedules and the other working on assignments and then, half an hour later, they switched.

Lily glanced at the watch on James' wrist. Five minutes until it was his problem sorting out these schedules. She was just wondering if she could stall for that long and make him fit Macy Adler into the damn schedule since she had Quidditch practice for Ravenclaw every damn night when James loudly scratched something out on his parchment with a strangled growl.

"Charms trouble?" Lily asked with a smirk. She pushed the parchment away from her and looked over at James, silently thanking him for the distraction.

"No, just… I can't concentrate. Need help on patrols?" He asked, nodding his head towards the parchment.

"Um, yeah… I'm having trouble with Macy—"

"Put her on Tuesdays."

"She's got Quidditch everyday."

James barked a laugh. "That's a damn lie. You can't book the pitch everyday. I've tried."

"Well, she's written down," she rooted around to find the note on which Macy had written down her availability and tossed it across the table, "Quidditch practice from 8-10 every night."

James grabbed the note and made a face at it. "A Ravenclaw should be able to lie better than this. Gryffindor has practice 8-10 on Fridays. I'll speak with her."

"Oh, can I come watch?" Lily grinned and leaned forward on both of her arms, her face suddenly quite close to James's. She faltered and leaned back a bit, but continued, smirk still fixed on her face. "James Potter lecturing someone about responsibility sounds like it would be quite the sight."

"Well, I've kept the boys in line all these years," he said, placing a hand to his chest and thrusting his nose in the air.

"Oh Merlin," Lily giggled. "You haven't been doing a great job, there. How many detentions have you lot gotten?"

He waved his hand dismissively. "Numbers aren't important, Evans. Would've been about ten times worse if I just left them to their devices."

"Uh-huh. I believe you. Really."

"Well, have any of us flunked a class?" James asked.

"No, but—"

"Well, there you go. I successfully kept that lot in school."

"That seems more like Remus's job."

"Remus's job is to stay on top of school schoolwork and be healthy," James said quickly, as if it was something he repeated over and over again. He paused and shook his head a little. "My job with Remus is to make him laugh."

Lily smiled warmly. "Remus needs that. And what about Peter and Sirius?"

His hand came up to his chin as he thought. Lily was delighted to see that he was really thinking, really trying to give her a proper answer. "With Peter, it's helping him a bit with schoolwork and keeping his chin up. My job with Sirius is to point his energy in a productive direction from time to time and pay for anything he breaks."

"Do you think about that often? What your… your 'job' is regarding other people?" Lily asked.

James shrugged. "Sometimes. I don't know."

"What's your job with me?" Lily asked quietly. She was surprised to find that she felt nervous, very nervous, and that the energy in the room had intensified. He met her eyes and she felt her face flush. _Stupid,_ she thought. _What am I doing that for?_ Willing herself to act casual, she cleared her throat and leaned back. "A job other than bother me at every turn, that is."

James smirked, but kept staring straight at her. "My job with you, Evans, is not to spook you."

Her brows furrowed. "What? I'm not—I'm not a horse, James." As she said it, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

"No, not a horse..." he smiled a little, as if laughing at a joke that Lily didn't get, and leaned back in his chair. "You said James."

"Yeah, that's your name," she said, looking back down at the patrols.

"But you said it."

They paused, James staring at Lily and Lily staring at the parchment in front of her. Finally, she cleared her throat and looked up. "You're bad at your job."

"Good," he said and tugged away the patrol schedule.

"Giving up your old job?"

"I think my new job is to spook you as often as I can," he said with a low chuckle. Lily shivered.

"I'm not sure I can sign off on that," Lily said.

He looked back up at her. "Tough."

Lily swallowed hard and tore her eyes away. She made herself busy gathering her books and assignments.

"And where do you think you're going?" James asked, trying to sound confident but Lily could hear a trace of fear, of concern.

"Well, you've succeeded in spooking me. Which means," she grinned, standing up and walking towards the door, "you get to finish the patrol schedule and your assignments all alone. Cheers."

"Evans, don't you dare—"

"Bye, Potter!"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Posted this on tumblr ages ago. Figured I should put it up here. Enjoy. Disclaimer from Chap. 1 still applies.

* * *

><p>James walked into the Heads' Office and collapsed onto one of the chairs with an enthusiastic sigh. His head lolled back and he opened one eye to see if Lily was preparing to fawn over him and, seeing that she hadn't been moved from her work, sighed again, flailing his arms a bit.<p>

Lily peeked up at him through her lashes and then snapped her eyes back to the parchment in front of her. "Oh look," she said dryly, "it's James Potter. And look at me, not running away."

"Why would you run away from me, Evans? I'm a delight to be around. Ask Sirius or Pete or Remus." James thought for a second before sitting up in his chair and shaking his head vigorously. "Oh Merlin, don't do that. I don't want to know what those buggers would have to say."

Lily laughed and looked up. She dropped her quill onto her essay and leaned back, fixing James with a stare that might have unsettled him only a year ago. "You don't think I have a reason to run away from you?"

James shrugged.

"You told me just last week that you liked scaring me," Lily said. She threw a little rolled up scrap of parchment in his direction and gave a satisfied hum as it bounced off of his nose. He glared and pulled his chair around the table to get closer to her. Lily gritted her teeth but refused to scoot away.

"I said that I liked spooking you, Lily. It's different. I don't want to actually frighten you, I just like making you terribly, terribly nervous." He leaned one arm onto the table and turned more fully toward her with a smirk. "I like it when you blush and stutter and can't think of a snappy little comeback."

Lily could feel her face turning red and glared when she saw his smirk widening into a grin. "Potter, I—I—"

He tutted softly. "Stuttering. Blushing."

She grabbed her wand and pointed it at his chest.

"Threatening bodily harm to me also sounds like something someone who is just a bit unnerved would do, don't you think?" His voice was low and she wished he'd stop talking to her like this. More than that, she wished she'd stop reacting so predictably to him talking to her like this.

Lily growled, frustrated, and swished her wand at his face. His glasses slid off of his face and into her hand. James moved to grab for them but missed and she giggled as his face, just seconds ago smirking and amused, turned slightly panicked.

"Lily, I'm honestly blind as a bat without—"

She stood and leaned down, placing one hand on the table just next to him. She saw him swallow nervously and couldn't help but grin. "Well, Potter," she said quietly. "You make me nervous, I make you blind." She turned on her heel and started to walk away but stopped when she heard the clattering crash behind her. Looking back, she saw James Potter on a heap on the floor, legs tangled with the legs of his chair.

"Merlin's sake, James, I left your glasses on the table."

He used the table to pull himself back up and stuffed his glasses back onto his face. "Lily Evans is unpredictable when surprised, much like a horse or a deer," he muttered, only half to himself. He dusted off his pants and sat down facing her with half a glare, half a smile on his face.

"What was that?" Lily asked brightly, still paused at the doorway.

"Nothing, Lils, just making notes."


	3. Chapter 3

Lily Apparated in after spending Christmas morning with her family, and James and Sirius both tackled her on sight.

"Let her up, let her up," Mrs. Potter said as she hauled Sirius up by the back of his shirt collar. "Lily, dear, so good to see you. Happy Christmas."

Once Lily was back on her feet and Mrs. Potter was on her way to the kitchen to ask the house elves for cookies and ciders, James and Sirius pulled her into the living room. Lily's eyes were wide as she took in the house; it was a beautiful home on a good day, but with the amount of tinsel and garlands and the elaborately decorated tree, it looked more like a picture in one of her mum's magazines than a family home. James flopped into one of the plush armchairs and pulled her into his lap, kissing her on the nose gently and grinning.

"Oh Merlin," Sirius groaned. "I'll keep Mum Potter away long enough for you two to be disgusting together," he drawled, dragging his feet behind him and dragging his hands across the string of bells hanging from one of the shelves. "You've been apart three days. Ridiculous."

"Happy Christmas," James said quietly when Sirius's elaborate exit was through.

"Same to you," Lily grinned. She kissed him gently but pulled back quicker than James was ready for. His face was slack and lips slightly open when he popped his eyes open in surprise. "Do you think he's right?"

"What? Who?"

"Sirius. About us being ridiculous."

"It's Christmas and I get to spend it with you for the first time. Sirius is lucky I didn't make us matching sweaters and write a song," James said lightly. He tried to lean forward to recapture her lips but she dodged him and placed a hand on his chest. He groaned and lowered his forehead to rest against Lily's.

"Just sit for a moment," she whispered. She burrowed her face in his neck and inhaled. "I just want to enjoy you."

"You could enjoy snogging me," James grumbled but he made no attempt to change what was happening. His heart felt too full just then to really complain. After a minute he kissed her cheek and chuckled. "You've made yourself just right at home here, Lils."

"I like you. Surprised?" She muttered into his neck.

"Well, now I'm just remembering back to when I was trying to scare you into being my girlfriend." He grinned and squeezed her waist gently.

"That's not what you were doing, but continue," Lily said, leaning back to fix him with an amused half-glare.

"Well, I just realized that I've let you be entirely too comfortable in our relationship," he said. Lily had half a minute to look confused before he picked her up, walked two steps over to the couch and dumped her onto it. She looked up with a teasing look on her face and James glared at her with his hands on his hips. "Too comfortable."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Lily asked quietly.

James launched himself at her, and Lily, expecting a proper snog, was surprised to find herself being mercilessly tickled. She squealed and kicked and finally, James stopped the attack and sat up, hair even messier than it usually was and face flushed with laughter.

"Well? You caught off-guard, Evans?"

Lily pushed him slightly as she sat up as well, trying to smooth down her hair. "No, just kind of angry."

"Ah, well," James shrugged. He reached around behind her and grabbed something before sliding off of the couch and onto a knee. "Lily," he said quietly, holding out a small box.

She turned crimson, mouth falling agape and heart pounding as if she had run full bore around the entire Great Lake. "James—w-what are you—"

"Lily, I know we've only been together two months—"

"J—James—Potter—"

"But they have been the best of my life. Please accept this," he said. She opened and closed her mouth but nothing came out. James couldn't help but giggle as he opened the box to reveal a small silver stag pin.

Lily's eyes got big and then very small as they narrowed into slits. "James—POTTER!" She yelled as she punched him on the shoulder. She covered her face with her hands and groaned.

James was crying from laughter but finally controlled himself enough to pull her hands off of her face and kiss them both, one palm and then the other. "I'm sorry, Lily. I couldn't resist—"

"You could very easily have done," she said but she had already forgiven him, he knew, because she had wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, I had to know."

"Know what?"

"That I could still spook you."


End file.
